Thursday, March 24, 2011

Penguin Group (NZ) & Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust

team up again with nationwide Short Story Awards for children

Following the success of the inaugural Puffin Short Story Awards last year, school children across the country are again invited to show off their writing skills in this unique competition.

The competition, which aims to nurture young writing talent, is now open and culminates in an awards ceremony at the Storylines Auckland Family Day on 28 August 2011. Entries are accepted in three categories: Junior (School Years 4-6), Intermediate (School Years 7-8) and Senior (School Years 9-11).

“ A writing competition for young writers is a splendid way of encouraging young people to realise the power of words to inspire, entertain, inform, persuade and to explore ideas. Becoming a writer goes hand in hand with becoming a reader. Budding writers feed on the words of the authors. As they see themselves in the author role they become more perceptive and critical readers. Storylines is delighted to work in partnership with Puffin/Penguin in this short story competition. It aligns closely with our aims to support New Zealand writers and illustrators for children and to celebrate reading and writing for young people. We look forward to those who enter the competition being among our published writers of the future.”

Dr Libby Limbrick, Chairperson of Storylines, Head of School of Arts, Languages and Literacies , Faculty of Education , University of Auckland.

This year, the prize up for grabs in each category is an Apple iPad. All three winners will also take away 50 Puffin books for their school library.

A team of judges recruited by Storylines will short-list up to 10 finalists per category, and the overall winner in each category will be selected by a high-profile children’s author.
Dawn McMillan is back to judge the Junior category, along with Joy Cowley in the Intermediate category. David Hair joins the team this year as judge in the Senior category.
The theme for the competition is open, allowing participants to write about subjects of their own choosing.

The competition closes at 5pm on 3 June. Entry forms and full details are available at http://www.puffin.co.nz/ or http://www.storylines.org.nz/

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